Review – Morocco Uncovered Tour with Intrepid Travel

Overall Impression:

In February 2024 I participated in an excellent thirteen day English language tour to Morocco. The tour, called Morocco Uncovered, was organized by Intrepid Travel, a company specializing in small group tours all over the world. I had previously traveled with Intrepid but it had been about ten years since my last trip and I had mostly been doing independent travel. The tour hit many of the tourist highlights of Morocco and also gave you opportunities to experience the culture all while making new friends in a small group setting. The tour is good value for money and the main pros/cons of the tour are:

Pros:

• You are able to visit more highlights of Morocco than you could likely accomplish in the same amount of time on your own.
• The tour did an excellent job of exposing you to the Moroccan culture.
• You had opportunities that would be difficult to replicate on your own, such as having dinner in a family’s home.
• Excellent tour leader and driver were with us throughout the entire trip.
• The tour uses local guides at each location to ensure a high level of knowledge at sites visited.
• A good mix of city and rural areas is included on the itinerary.
• Group size is capped at 12 people.
• Everything is taken care of for you, allowing you to focus on the experience and places you are visiting.
• Pacing of activities is well done. I rarely felt rushed or like we were spending too much time at a site.

Cons:

• There is a lot of driving time on the tour.
• The mini-bus used for the tour is not comfortable for taller individuals.

Booking

Intrepid offers immediate online booking but I had two questions that couldn’t be answered on their website so I contacted them via email. The questions were: how much is a single supplement ($600 at the time I asked) and how much is an extra night in Casablanca at the beginning of the trip ($95). I received responses back quickly and ultimately decided to add the extra day but not the single supplement. Thanks to booking during their annual Black Friday promotion I was able to purchase the tour for $1636 plus the $95 extra for a one night extension in Casablanca.

After a few emails back and forth I had a secure payment link and had booked the trip.

You might be wondering about my declining the single supplement. I did indeed travel solo on this trip. However, one of the things I like about Intrepid is that by default they will pair solo travelers up with another solo traveler of the same gender to share a room. This means you aren’t stuck with a single supplement unless you choose to have your own room. In my case there ended up being only one other solo traveler on the tour. She was female so we both lucked out and got our own rooms without paying the supplement.

Itinerary

Intrepid does a very thorough job of providing itinerary information on their website. An abbreviated itinerary is:

• Day 1 – Casablanca
• Day 2 – Meknes
• Day 3 – Chefchaoeun
• Day 4 & 5 – Fes
• Day 6 – Midelt
• Day 7 – Sahara Camp
• Day 8 & 9 M’Goun Valley
• Day 10 – Ait Benhaddou
• Day 11-13 – Marrakech

This itinerary hits many of the top tourist destinations in Morocco as well as some less visited spots like the M’Goun Valley, which was beautiful. Overall I think it is a great itinerary and it packs in a lot for two weeks. I will say though that I was happy I added an extra night in Casablanca and also spent a couple extra nights in Marrakech at the end of the tour. One extra night was perfect as it allowed me a day to explore the city as the tour only includes a visit to the Hassan II Mosque and basically nothing else in Casablanca. Similarly in Marrakech I was happy to have an extension and I’d recommend 1-2 extra nights there if you can.

What’s Included

The tour includes most of your expenses. The main things included are:

• Lodging
• Airport arrival transfer
• Transportation (this tour uses private transportation, though some Intrepid tours use public transportation or a mix)
• All breakfasts and a few other meals
• Tour leader/guide & driver throughout the trip
• Local guides
• Entrance and activity fees

The only things that aren’t included based on my experience are:

• Tips
• Meals and drinks as designated in the trip information
• Activities that are not included (there were very few of these on this tour, everything you do as a group is covered)
• Shopping/Souvenirs

For the items that aren’t included I’d estimate that I spent $300-$400 not including shopping. As with most things you could spend more, or a bit less based on your preferences.

Group Size & Dynamics

As I mentioned at the beginning I typically lean towards independent travel as opposed to packaged tours. One of the main reasons for this is that I don’t like being a part of large groups when I’m visiting places. In large groups I find it difficult to explore and ask questions among other things. Intrepid solves this by focusing on small group tours. In the case of this tour it was limited to a maximum of 12 people.

Our tour was full, and while I would not want many more people on the tour, it worked out well and I didn’t run into any locations where twelve of us visiting at once made it feel crowded or difficult to hear our guides.

Another key to a good tour is positive group dynamics. Our tour group included individuals from about 20-75 years of age and from Australia, Canada, Japan, and the United States. Despite diverse backgrounds we got along well and we didn’t run into any major group dynamics issues. I attribute this in part to the type of people that tend book with Intrepid (travelers, not tourists, as our tour leader put it) but also our tour leader’s ability to facilitate the group dynamics effectively.

Tour Guides

For our tour we had a tour leader and driver who were with us throughout the entire tour – both of whom were great! Our tour leader, Hassan, met the group the first evening at the hotel and provided us an orientation about the tour along with meeting time information for the next day. He then facilitated getting people to dinner at two different restaurants based on people’s preferences. Throughout the rest of the tour he did an excellent job of communicating about the tour, teaching us about Morocco and the culture, answering even our most esoteric or uncomfortable questions, and facilitating every imaginable kind of interaction. Those included group meals, taking care of tipping for the group (done via a kitty we contributed to), arranging activities, translating for us, getting people medical care, finding someplace for laundry, or even providing thoughts on the best places to get a souvenir. In short, if you had a question or needed some help, Hassan was there for you.

In addition we had local guides during most of the included activities. These were individuals who were from the area we were visiting and provided more in depth information and experiences about the site or local area. This was great as it not only provided more in depth knowledge than one person could have about all the sites but allowed Hassan time to ensure that the tour more broadly continued to run smoothly.

Accommodations

This was a “Comfort” tour which Intrepid describes as “more inclusions, more comfortable accommodation and a more relaxed pace.” All of the accommodations included a private bathroom and were well located. All except for the tent in the Sahara also included hot water (though varying amounts) and climate control. Put simply they were of good standard for a developing country and I’ve definitely stayed in much more simple or problematic accommodations.

With that said, the accommodations did vary significantly. Some of the accommodations, such as the one in Casablanca were grand looking but were quite dirty.

On the other hand the hotel in Chefchaouen was absolutely wonderful.

Then there was the Riad in Marrakech that had gaping holes in the door (I later found out this wasn’t uncommon when staying at another Riad).

In the end all were well located, gave you a nice exposure to different kinds of accommodations in Morocco, and met my needs well during the tour.

Activities

This tour was packed with different activities which really made it a fantastic experience. From walking tours, to historical site visits, a cooking demonstration, and multiple opportunities to eat in a family home this tour included too many things to cover. Because of that I’ve chosen to briefly share my top ten experiences from the tour instead! In roughly chronological order they are as follows:

Hassan II Mosque

This amazing mosque was completed in 1993 and is stunning. It is also the only mosque that you can visit in Morocco if you aren’t muslim.

Mausoleum Mohammed V

What I found to be the most beautiful spot we visited in Rabat. This is the tomb of King Mohammed V who died in 1961.

Chefchaouen (The Blue City) Walking Tour

A beautiful old city set in the mountains. They have painted the homes blue to stunning effect.

Volubilis (Roman Ruins)

1st century Roman ruins with impressive mosaics still in their original locations.

Fes Leather Tannery Visit

Fes has been a leather tanning center for over a thousand years and they are still using the same methods to tan leather today. This was fascinating, smelled awful, and is a strong reminder for me of how fortunate I am to have been born in the United States.

Glamping & Camel Ride in the Sahara Desert

What can I say, I enjoyed this experience in the Sahara so much I wrote a full blog post about it!

M’Goun Valley Half Day Hike

I really enjoyed staying up in the mountains and this relaxed half day hike took us through some absolutely gorgeous terrain without being too difficult for any of our tour group.

Meals at Family Homes

Food is an important part of any culture and getting to experience a home cooked meal is always a treat! We were fortunate to be able to have this experience about half a dozen times on this tour and the homes ranged from very simple to palatial giving us a taste of the different socioeconomic statuses in the country.

Kasbah Amridil Tour

This 17th century fortified home was a great stop and an excellent opportunity to learn more about kasbahs and Moroccan history.

Ait Benhaddou Walking Tour

Visiting this fortified village that was first established in the 11th century was great. This was both a beautiful and historic stop, Plus you get a little bit of movie magic too as it has been the site of films such as Gladiator. And yes, those are movie trailers in the foreground of the picture below.

Marrakech Medina Walking Tour

The medina (old city) of Marrakech is an experience unlike any other. It has the souk (market) filled with hundreds of shops and winding streets as many old cities do – and they are impressive. However, what makes it over the top is Jemaa el-Fnaa, the main square. The square is a sensory overload of shops, street performers, snake charmers, musicians, and people wandering through this everyday circus.

Transportation

On this tour there were only three types of transportation used. Those were walking, a private minibus, and a camel ride!

While the camel ride was the most fun, the minibus was definitely our primary method of transportation. It was clean and well appointed. We also had a few extra seats even though the tour was full. The bus had USB available for charging and was in great shape. Unfortunately for those of us who were taller (I’m 5’11”) it got a bit uncomfortable due to limited leg room. Overall though, this was a very good way to get around and had a bigger vehicle been used it likely would not have been able to go to some of the places we visited.

Final Thoughts

Morocco had been on my bucket list for a long time and this was an excellent way to experience it! This took the planning and guesswork out of the trip and made it more relaxing than if I had planned it all myself. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this tour or Intrepid more generally.